Paintabeth
by Sly Raccoon
Summary: One-shot of a Percabeth date. Before the Giants when Percy is at Goode and Annabeth is at her boarding school. Rated T because that's what I rate everything.


"Percy! Where are we going?" I ask but being unable to hold back the laughter as the excitement bursts through.

"Just wait and see." He smiles, turning around to face me as he drags me through the trees just outside of the school gates. He stops and looks me right in the eye. "You going to love it, I promise."

"Ok." I say without realising. His smile widens as he sets off again, pulling me along behind him.

Trees flash by as we race away from my boarding school. I can see the sun going down through the branches of the trees; even though the day had been hot it was now cooling as an evening breeze swept around us. Pink clouds a few and far between show a beautiful clear evening. Perfect weather.

"You ready?" Percy asks, stopping suddenly. He pulls me close to him making my heart beat loud in my ears. As his arm slips around my waist his eyes brighten. He looks so happy that it makes me happy too.

"Yes." I reply. I shiver slightly in his arms, not because of the cold but in anticipation.

"You won't be cold for long." He says noticing me shiver. He takes in my clothing: a plain white top with a plain white skirt; what he told me to wear. "Let's go!"

He pulls me round a corner and I see streets up ahead. We head towards there and I can see smoke and coloured dust rise up; swirling up into the evening sky. There's music too; drumming I think. As we get closer I can feel the beat through my feet. It sounds like hundreds of drummers, one strong, steady beat with an overlay of smaller rhythms that all entwine to make this beautiful but loud music that fills the air; making it hard to hear anything else properly. I think Percy called out to me but his words we lost in the wonderful rhythms that made me want to dance.

We turn suddenly and I see an explosion of colours. It was a festival. People were throwing cups of paint down on the people dancing, running and strolling through the streets. There was powered paint raining down on us as Percy pulled me down into the middle of the street. The drummers were following the festivities with drums hanging around their necks and had sticks to hit their drums. Their drums had paint on them and with every beat; paint would fly up into their faces and onto their arms and torso. The people around us were wearing mostly white, like us, which had been dyed with different colours of the rainbow. Each time we turned down a new road a new colour would be thrown. Throughout the crowd people in cloaks that read: _The colour bandits_, would hold sticks up high with spinning fireworks on them, spraying the crowd below with sparks but none of it hurt.

Percy pulled us along until we were right in the middle, already covered in yellow paint. He took my hand and pulled me close then started to twirl with me; we were dancing. Dancing in the spark and paint rain. I laughed; it was just such an incredible experience and I felt so... happy. He made me happy, just being with him and around him, just seeing that he was as happy as I was made everything better.

"New street!" He shouts. I get what he means; new colour.

"Let's leave prints!" I hope he understands.

"Huh?" He asks.

"Oh Seaweed Brain." I laugh and then explain.

"I'm liking it Wise Girl." He grins.

He grabs my waist as red paint flies down toward us and spins me around. I lift my arms up above my head as we spin. There will be a void where there will be no red paint on my hips in the shape of his hands. Next, on the blue street, he wraps an arm around my waist and I place my hands on his chest as we dance down the road. We turn onto road after road leaving different patterns on each other and then sometimes just dancing or running or laughing as we walked.

My clothes were completely covered in paint, as was all exposed skin and my hair! My hair barely looked blonde anymore. As Percy danced with me my hair would fly around letting me see all the new colours in it. Percy too was covered. He wore white shorts and a white top which were no longer white. His hair wasn't affected as it was too dark to really see colours in them. I couldn't look away from him so I didn't see the wet paint coming towards us; that made me laugh even more. Normally when I was covered in paint (And thanks to the Stolls I knew what that was like) I would get angry but right now I didn't care. It was fun and exciting and with Percy with everything felt amazing.

The finale was in a large, stone, square court yard where people danced in the middle. The drummers going around the edges; letting the music fill the whole place. Fireworks were strung up and showered down on the edges so as to not hurt anyone. Other fireworks exploded above our heads into the now dark night.

"Come with me." Percy says, pulling me into the centre of the dancing. He holds me right in the middle of the square and places his hands on my cheeks and slowly leans down towards me. My eyes fluttered shut and butterflies make my stomach tingle. My hands enclose around his forearms as his lips touch mine.

We kissed for what seemed like both forever and yet it was over too soon with him wrapping his arms around my waist and spinning around like a mad man, laughing the whole time. I laughed too whilst looping my arms around his neck. He let me go, spun me out and took my hand. Together we danced until it got even darker and even then we didn't stop.

It was well into the night when we stopped, there were still a fair amount of people still there, partying late into the night. He pulled me into the warmth of his arms as we made our way back toward my school. We talked and laughed and danced all the way up. Still happy and I could think of a way to say thank you for a perfect date. In the end I gave him a kiss, the best on I had ever given him before going into my school. I decided to stop by the common room first to check if my roommate was there.

"Annabeth! Why are you covered in paint!?" Elvie exclaims from across the room as soon as I come in. Everyone immediately looks up at me. Thanks Elvie.

I look down, I had forgotten about the paint. Also, no one knew I had a boyfriend.

"I'm tired, see you tomorrow." I automatically say and rush up stairs to my dorm room. I shower to get the paint off my skin and out of my hair before I get into my PJ's. Before I get into bed I see my now very colourful top and I can't help but smile, I have a feeling it's going to be my favourite top.


End file.
